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War for Sanctoria
The War for Sanctoria was a terrible conflict fought on the Shrine World of Sanctoria between the Imperium of Man and the mortal and daemonic servants of the Blood God Khorne. The battle began when the Bloodthirster of Khorne An'ggrath the Unbound chose the Chaos Lord Kharax the Slayer to serve as his mortal herald in realspace and ultimately his daemonhost. The entire Ultramarines Chapter of Space Marines had gathered on Sanctoria in honour of their Primarch Roboute Guilliman. This rare time when the entire Chapter was gathered together in one place provided the servants of the Blood God with an irresistible chance for carnage. The primary action of the campaign was fought in Sanctoria's capital city of Angelus Prime. The entire might of the Ultramarines Chapter and their allies among the Grey Knights, the Knights of House Terryn and the Titans of the Legio Astorum stood against the bloodthirsty hordes of the Blood God Khorne. Much blood was spilled, as the Ultramarines made their last stand against the followers of Khorne on the holy ground of Angelus Prime's cathedral dedicated to the Ultramarines Primarch. Yet in the end, the Ultramarines prevailed once more, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar personally banished An'ggrath to the Warp. History In the eastern reaches of the Realm of Ultramar, a gathering of heroes was taking place upon the Shrine World of Sanctoria. Amid the Shrine World's shimmering deserts, within the towering walls of the capital city Angelus Prime, the Ultramarines Chapter had united to give praise. From all across the galaxy they had come, some travelling solar months, even Terran years from far-flung war zones to attend this once-in-a-millennium muster. At the express command of Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, the Ultramarines Chapter was observing an incredibly rare month of holy rites to honour the anniversary of their Primarch Roboute Guilliman's Ascension as the Codex Astartes decreed. The Imperial Knights of House Terryn had sent a delegation of their finest to honour their alliance with the Ultramarines, as had the Adeptus Mechanicus in the form of Titans from the Legio Astorum. It was a breathtaking moment, a chance for the lords of Ultramar to gather and honour their fallen gene-sire while their Successor Chapters kept watch in their stead. Yet it was also a rare moment in which the whole strength of the Chapter was concentrated upon a single world. The Ultramarines' massed presence was a challenge to the enemies of Mankind, one that could not be ignored. That challenge was answered by Kharax the Slayer, a fanatical worshipper of the Blood God. Brooding upon his brazen throne on the bridge of the Space Hulk Malefica, the Chaos Lord stiffened as the rumbling voice of the Bloodthirster An'ggrath filled his mind. The Ultramarines gathered upon Sanctoria, the daemon said, and while their might was great, that of the Blood God was greater. An'ggrath planned to prove this, to lay the thousand skulls of the Ultramarines at the foot of Khorne's throne. Yet he required a mortal herald to summon him onto Sanctoria through the sacrament of massed bloodshed. Lord Kharax had been judged worthy to serve as that herald, An'ggrath snarled, and if successful he would be richly rewarded. The fires of his zealotry stoked by the daemon's words, Kharax rose from his throne and ordered all speed to be made for Sanctoria. As his Daemonkin warband surged through the Empyrean aboard their Hulk, they gathered ever more of Khorne's faithful to their side, for the daemon had spread his influence far. By the time Kharax's followers tore from the Warp above Sanctoria, an armada of twisted Chaos warships surrounded the Malefica. Most of the Ultramar Defence Fleet's strength was in orbit around Sanctoria, guarding the gathered Chapter below. As the Warp spat forth Kharax's hordes, alarm hymnals blared throughout the Ultramarines fleet, Imperial Navy Battleships and Space Marine Battle Barges alike rang to the bark of orders as their crews scrambled to respond to this sudden threat. With impressive speed, the huge fleet began to come about, Lance batteries powering up and launch bays loosing great swarms of interceptors out into the void. Yet the Daemonkin had the element of surprise. Trailing the kaleidscope colours of madness behind them, dozens upon dozens of Chaos warships crashed into realspace with their drives lit and their gun decks already hammering. In solar minutes, the void above Sanctoria became a whirling maelstrom of battle. Lance beams crisscrossed the black gulfs of space, searing through metres-thick hull plates to vent atmosphere and screaming crewmen into space. Torpedoes soared on blazing wings to bury their explosive warheads deep in the guts of Cruisers and blast them apart. Battle damage mounted swiftly until stricken spacecraft tumbled across the void, their broken forms flickering and glowing like embers in a bonfire. Through it all came the Malefica, smashing into the fight like the clenched fist of a god. Lesser craft were swept aside by its monstrous firepower or smashed to ruin by its goliath bulk. Soon enough, the monstrous Space Hulk had reached the upper atmosphere of Sanctoria and -- ignoring the Lance fire that scored its hull -- vomited wave upon wave of dropships down towards the planet below. Even as the ferocious orbital battle raged high above, the Ultramarines sprang into action. The Warp spoor of the Daemonkin was instantly detected, blazing like a beacon in the minds of the Ultramarines Librarians. Calgar had always known that to gather his Chapter presented a risk, and had thus put layered contingencies in place should any attack be forthcoming. Now, those plans were seamlessly put into action. The city of Angelus Prime towered above the desert sands, a sprawling immensity of stone processionals and gothic spires. At its heart stood the Cathedrum of the Primarch, a cloud-scraping fortress protected by adamantium walls, batteries of Defence Lasers, and yawning chasms excavated from the Sanctorian bedrock. Normally, the city was a place of shadowed contemplation and solemn reflection. Now though, throughout Angelus Prime, post-human warriors rose from their devotions and made ready to do battle. Every Ultramarine moved with an efficiency that even their brothers from other Chapters would struggle to emulate. Word of the invasion spread through the halls and corridors of the shrine-city, yet the Ultramarines met this news not with panic, but with the pragmatic determination and bravery for which they were famed. Ortan Cassius and his fellow Chaplains strode amongst their brothers barking out war-sermons. Even as the first shots of the space battle were being fired, Ultramarines were jogging to prearranged muster points throughout Angelus Prime. Soon, warriors gathered into squads and squads into companies. As the Chapter readied their defence, Chapter Serfs and Servitors hastened to gird their masters for the battle to come. Power packs and auto-senses whined to life, interspersed with the crunch of ammunition clips being slotted into Bolters. Throughout the city's plazas and processionals the tanks of the Ultramarines Armoury awakened for war, their power plants growling and autoloaders clattering, Meanwhile, ceramite-shielded gunships readied their engines for launch and took on fresh stocks of ammunition. Every single Space Marine burned to take the fight to the foe. Yet Marneus Calgar's orders were unequivocal; there would be no sallying forth to meet this threat. Instead, the line companies were deployed to garrison the city's ramparts. Tactical Squads oversaw the swift evacuation of the outer city, shepherding masses of priests, adepts and penitents through the outer gates before sealing the armoured portal tight. The brothers of the Reserve Companies were charged with manning Angelus Prime's mighty Defence Lasers, or else were held back, deeper within the mighty fortress, until a time when they might be needed. Meanwhile, the Scout brothers of the 10th Company gathered their wargear and fanned out through the endless kilometres of drainage tunnels and catacombs that lay beneath the city. There they would stand, ensuring no foe struck at the Ultramarines from below. Some satisfaction was to be had for the Ultramarines as Angelus Prime's orbital lasers let fly into the skies above. Columns of ruby light stabbed upwards from the monolithic guns, raking the orbital combat zone with ruinous fire and blasting Chaos warships into drifting wreckage. Aside from the devastation being wrought in space, however, the Ultramarines Chapter held fast, following their orders to render the shrine city impregnable to the foe. From within the Sanctum of Guilliman, high atop the Cathedrum of the Primarch, Marneus Calgar coordinated hundreds of data-streams and Vox exchanges from all across the planet. Drawing upon centuries of experience and an encyclopedic knowledge of the Codex Astartes, he marshalled his followers as easily as most men drew breath. Still, as he issued commands in the shadow of his Primarch's statue, Calgar felt keenly the cost of the choices he had made. His entire Chapter was at risk and, by extension, all the worlds of Ultramar. The foe's numbers were reported to be an order of magnitude greater than Calgar's own, and the worshippers of Khorne would like nothing better than for the Ultramarines to charge out from behind their walls and meet them in open battle. No doubt his brothers would strike their Heretic foe a mighty blow if they sallied forth, yet in the end Calgar knew that even the Ultramarines would be overwhelmed. That was a loss to the Imperium that could not be allowed to happen. Thus, as the planetary invasion began in earnest, the Ultramarines withheld their strength, though beneath their veneer of icy calm it pained them to do so. Across the surface of Sanctoria, defence lasers and missile silos hurled fire into the heavens, their sweating human gunners advised remotely by Ultramarines Devastator Sergeants. Hundreds of Chaos assault craft were punched from the skies in blossoms of fire. Yet still came, waves of twisted gunships, bulk landers and brass-clawed Kharybdis Assault Claw Drop Pods falling like storm rain upon the Shrine World. Despite the frantic efforts of the planetary defence militia, countless craft made landfall. As each opened its ramps and hatches, howling Daemonkin poured out into Sanctoria's parched deserts. Enormous hordes of Khorne worshippers coalesced, rampaging across the planet's surface to attack its cities and fortifications. The Chaos Lord Kharax led millions of frothing cultists, gibbering Chaos Spawn and cruel Heretic Astartes to lay siege to the cities of Aurenium and Gloriana. Despite the courage of the cities' militia garrisons -- and supporting attack runs by Ultramarines Thunderhawks detached from orbit -- the invaders smashed their walls asunder, threw down their gilded statues and butchered the defenders in Khorne's name. The invaders did not win a single metre of ground without a fight, falling in droves beneath militia guns or annihilated by orbital strikes from Ultramarines warships high above. Yet as blood was shed in ever-greater quantities, it only provided more fuel for Kharax's monstrous summoning ritual. A terrible crimson mist billowed up from the ground to swirl in fog-banks across battlefields planet-wide. The desert sands churned, convulsing into screaming faces. Ash rained from the heavens, blackening and corrupting everything it touched, while the energies of the Warp pressed ever closer to the surface of reality. Even in the tunnels beneath Angelus Prime, Scout Squads reported the walls weeping stinking black gore, while gibbering voices echoed madly from the deepest shadows. Finally, with a monstrous baying and blaring of horns, the gore-fleshed daemons of Khorne tore their way through the veil and joined the fight. Daemon Engines and even Traitor Titans were landed to support the invasion, their every mighty footfall smashing down bunker walls and crushing militia tanks like ration tins. A desperate attack run by a trio of Thunderhawk Gunships saw the ''Banelord''-class Titan Abominatus Extremis toppled in flaming ruin, yet even this mighty deed was but a pinprick upon a monster's hide. Before long, an almighty wave of murderous foes swept across the deserts, swiftly converging upon Angelus Prime. Marneus Calgar burned with cold fury as he listened on the Vox-net to the pleading voices of militia officers and the desperate efforts of his fleet captains in orbit. As the cities of Sanctoria burned and the foe swept ever closer, Calgar suppressed his anger and followed his Primarch's teachings. He had his Astropaths hurl coded distress calls out into the void. He ordered his Battle-Brothers and their allies to dig in and await the foe where they could fight them on their own terms. Bulkheads locked down and armoured hatches were sealed. Void shields hummed to life around towering Titans, whose moderati sighted their vast guns upon the city's outer districts. Along every fire step and behind every wall, the Ultramarines readied their weapons, offering benedictions to their Machine Spirits as the howls and shrieks of the gathering foe carried on the hot desert winds. Meanwhile, in the sanctum at the city's highest point, Calgar vowed that every life sacrificed thus far would be repaid a hundredfold in the invaders' blood. The Siege Begins Wild bands of Daemonkin charged through Angelus Prime's outer districts, their battle cries echoing from the buildings. With them loped packs of daemons, Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds baying for the blood of mortals. With every second this ragged vanguard came close to the fortress walls that rose at the city's heart, some even finding routes into the tunnels that stretched beneath them. In response the mighty ''Warlord''-class Titan Vulctris Rex and the ''Reaver''-class Titan Absolution's Flame came alive with muzzle flares and energy blasts. The Titans' firepower blitzed the cityscape, flattening kilometres of urban sprawl and slaughtering tens of thousands of the foe. The deafening roar of explosion after explosion drowned out all other sound. The invaders were blasted to ash, the outer districts of Angelus Prime blown apart around them. Those that had poured into the city's catacombs counted themselves lucky, but only until the bark of Bolters and Shotguns heralded the determined counter-assault of the Ultramarines Scouts. Point-blank warfare ensued, the tunnels ringing with firefights and savage hand-to-hand combat until finally the Chaos worshippers were driven out once more. With their foes hurled back, the 10th Company blew the tunnel entrances, then withdrew to resume their subterranean vigil. The Vox-net rang to the Ultramarines' cheers, yet they died away as the true strength of the foe poured into sight. From all directions they came, wave upon wave of berserk warriors and unnatural horrors. Daemon Engines clattered and roared in their mindst. Forgefiends and Decimators lumbering alongside grotesque Ogryns that hauled on the leashes of mutant hounds. Above this monstrous tide swirled pitch black storm clouds, churning with the wyrdlight of the Warp. At the horde's back stalked twisted echoes of the Imperial Titans, Chaos-tainted monsters of brass and iron whose footfalls shook the ground. These traitor engines opened fire with cruel glee, turbo-lasers and mega-bolters blasting craters in plasteel walls and pummelling the void shields of their loyalist counterparts. As the Khornate forces flooded across the city's ruins, the defenders let fly with everything they had. Devastators levelled Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers at the foe, their drumming fire interspersed with the dull thump of Thunderfire Cannons. Countless Bolters roared, creating a devastating hurricane of mass-reactive fire that scoured the ground before the walls. Over it at came the cacophony of the city's countless Defence Lasers, Punisher Cannons and artillery guns opening fire. Beneath their fury, the enemy died in their thousands. Yet still they fired back, explosive rounds and storms of heavy shells chewing along the city's ramparts to smash the defenders from their feet. It was this hellish vision of war that greeted Kharax as he staggered to the top of a desert rise amid his baying Daemonkin. Kharax was covered head to toe in the blood of sacrificial foes he had slain to summon forth An'ggrath. Yet behind his helmet, the Chaos Lord's face was twisted in agony as the Greater Daemon's energies surged through him. With a scream of fury, Kharax the Slayer realised that he had been tricked -- he would not be An'ggrath's herald, but his doorway. Kharax's armoured form convulsed violently, before detonating with shocking force. Blood jetted forth, far more than one mortal form could hold, and as the gore surged into the air it swirled and solidified. Blood became muscle, sinew and flesh, and within moments the monstrous form of An'ggrath the Unbound loomed against the skyline. The Bloodthirster spread his mighty wings with a boom, threw back his head and bellowed to the roiling clouds above. From atop the walls of Angelus Prime, the defenders continued to fire even as enemy drop craft arced down upon the city. Kharybdis and Dreadclaw assault craft plunged through the clouds, trailing the flames of re-entry as they slammed into the city's outer defences. Among them dived flocks of Heldrakes, the Daemon Engines dropping with screams towards the prey below. Many were punched from the air by the missile fire of Hunter tanks, but more spread their brass-fletched wings and swept low over the defenders, belching white-hot flame as they went. interspersed with the crunch of ammunition clips being slotted into Bolters. Throughout the city's plazas and processionals the tanks of the Ultramarines Armoury awakened for war, their power plants growling and autoloaders clattering, Meanwhile, ceramite-shielded gunships readied their engines for launch and took on fresh stocks of ammunition. In response, Calgar loosed his own aircraft. Arrow-swift Stormraven and Stormtalon gunships hurtled into battle, desperate dogfights spiralling through the sheer canyons and war-torn skies of the city. At the same moment, the master of the Ultramarines sprang his first trap. A clarion signal rang out across the Vox, raising a cheer from the Ultramarines as Drop Pods of their own plunged through the clouds. Launched from the bays of the Strike Cruiser Octavius, the Ultramarines 2nd Company -- assigned orbital guard duties in case such an attack should occur -- drove down into the Khornate horde outside the gates. In rapid succession, the armoured pods slammed into shell-pocked rockcrete, hatches blowing open to disgorge the Spear of Sicarius. Captain Cato Sicarius and his heroic Battle-Brothers charged from their craft and opened fire, Bolters and Flamers blasting great holes in the enemy lines. At the same moment, the Knights of House Terryn struck. They had emerged some minutes earlier from the city's southern gate, sent by Calgar's order through the blasted outer ruins to support of the Ultramarines at the crucial moment. Now, the towering Knights strode into battle, Vox horns blaring and guns thundering furiously. Daemon Engines exploded up flares of unnatural fire, while cultists, daemons and Heretic Astartes were swept aside by the fusillade. Led by bellowing Daemon Princes, Khorne worshippers surged to oppose them, yet the Imperial strike had stalled their momentum. For the moment, the attackers were caught between the walls to their fore and the salient to their flank. Briefly, the defenders dared hope that the foe would be held here, and crushed in the voice of Sicarius' heroic counterattack. Wrath of the Daemon Above Angelus Prime, packs of Warp Talons tore their way from the Empyrean. These avian predators fell upon the Ultramarines with claws flashing, even as hordes of shrieking Raptors spilled from the breaches in their wake. At the same moment, a fresh wave of Khornate craft thundered down from on high, a huge Kharybdis Assualt Claw shrugging off the defenders' fire to smash a breach in the city's outer wall. Masonry crashed down, burying those Ultramarines caught in its path. Then the pod yawned wide, disgorging a mass of frenzied Berzerkers into the Imperial lines. Next came Daemonkin Chaos Terminators by the dozen, shimmering into reality around the eye-searing icons borne by their comrades. Suddenly, the invaders had substantial forces behind the walls and a break to exploit. Roaring their approval, the Khornate masses in no man's land surged forwards with fresh purpose. Even now, the Ultramarines reacted with stoic calm. The Battle-Brothers on the walls split their forces seamlessly, Vox-commands whipping back and forth as their sergeants coordinated the defence. Upon the Saints' Processional, the Reaver-class Titan Absolution's Flame came about and opened fire. Chaos Terminators and Raptors alike were vaporised instantly, scoured from the face of Sanctoria by the power of a weaponised god. Screaming down from the clouds came a Thunderhawk gunship, slamming down on the landing pad beside the generatorum that powered the city's defences. The craft's assault ramp crashed down, still trailing wisps of smoke and flame, and from within charged more Ultramarines to join the fight. At the same moment, Marneus Calgar ordered his second trap sprung. Now that the foe were pouring through the breach, and had committed what must surely be their main reserves to the fight, Calgar hurled his own reinforcements into battle. The great doors of the Narthex Maximal swung wide, and out onto the Bridge of Penitents strode more House Terryn Knights. The Daemonkin Terminators massing on the bridge were surprised by this sudden assault -- before they could fire more than a few desultory shots, the front ranks of the Chaos elite had been stamped and blasted into ruin, or kicked from the bridge to plunge into the bottomless dark below. At the same time, the bridge known as the Redemptor's Span shook to the roaring passage of the entire Ultramarines 8th Company, mounted upon speeding Space Marines bikes. The Ultramarines poured forth from their stronghold and rode down the Traitors with Chainswords swinging. Yet even as the Imperial forces launched this second counterattack, the Khorne worshippers continued to press forward. An'ggrath had taken to the skies, swooping low over the battlefield with Heldrakes in tow to smash and slay at will. His vast axe tore through the defenders' ranks as he swooped overhead, leaving tumbling corpses and fountaining blood in his wake. Outside the walls, fresh Traitor Titans were advancing into the fight, their guns roaring with incredible destructive energies. The Renegade Reaver-class Titan Sword of Spite was hammering the Vulctris Rex with everything it had, collapsing the Loyalist Warlord Titan's shields and raking explosions across its ancient hull. Another clanking, hissing wave of Daemon Engines had fallen upon Sicarius and his knightly allies, a Greater Brass Scorpion stitching shots through the Ultramarines lines even as it smashed hapless Knights into wreckage with its huge claw-limbs. The hard-pressed 2nd Company crouched around their Drop Pods, blazing away at the hellish engines that lumbered closer with every passing moment. Worst of all, the carnage had now reached such epic proportions that a bloody mist was once again coiling up to engulf the combatants of both sides. The skin of reality stretched and split like flesh torn open from within, and from the rents fresh tides of Daemons poured into the fight. Bellowing Bloodthirsters surged into battle, every axe-swing sending broken bodies flying. At the city's main gate, a Bloodthirster of Insenate Rage bellowed its fury and smashed its blade against the armoured portal. Around its feet boiled a tide of infernal beings, the Ultramarines pouring fire down into them from the ramparts above. If the daemons broke through now, there would be little to stop them reaching and destroying the generatorum that powered the city's defence batteries. Such a catastrophe could not be allowed, and so the Ultramarines fought on with fresh resolve. At the same time, yet another tide of daemons was pouring in from the east. They scrambled over the outstretched limbs of Soul Grinders, scaling a ruined conterplarium and spilling onto the Plaza of the Emperor's Grace. As they charged across that great space, the daemons were joined by masses of Daemonkin, all making for the cathedrum's main gate. One moment the Chaos horde seemed about to breach the Space Marines' stronghold -- the next, teleport flares blazed to life all across the plaza as Calgar's final trap was sprung. Striding from amid the searing lights came Captain Severus Agemman and the Terminator Battle-Brothers of the Ultramarines 1st Company, their Storm Bolters and Assault Cannons blazing. Energised Power Fists and daemonic blades crackled with power as the the two sides met, a swirling melee exploding all across the plaza. As its heart, Agemman hacked and stabbed, blasted and slew, bellowing exhortations to his battle-brothers to hold the line and force the foe back. Everywhere, from the heart of the city to the cold hell of the void-war far above, the battle for Sanctoria hung in the balance. Hatred fought heroism, and blood spilled in rivers. The fate of the Ultramarines balanced on a knife edge. And then the Warp convulsed once more. Purge the Unclean The generatorum teleport energies blossomed. From them stepped not more foes, but the templars of the Grey Knights. They had heard the astropathic cries for aid, and had responded with all haste. Seeing the main gates beset, Brother-Captain Arno Trevan brought his warriors behind the gates. Reacting instantly to this unexpected aid, the Ultramarines swung the battered portal wide, and the silver-clad templars charged forth to meet the Daemons of Khorne in battle. Storm bolters blazed, and Nemesis force weapons clashed with smouldering hellblades. The Bloodthirster leading the daemons laid four Battle-Brothers low with its first axe-swing, then hacked a Dreadknight in half with its second. Only when a dozen nemesis blades had been driven into its hide did the beast at last drop to the knee. The final blow was delivered by Brother-Captain Trevan, who rammed his sword up through the Daemon's jaw to punch out the top of its skull. The Bloodthirster was banished in a rush of smoke and sulphue, even as its minions were hurled back in disarray. Meanwhile, a smaller teleport strike of Grey Knights appeared deep in no man's land. These warriors had selflessly volunteered to place themselves between the advancing Traitor Warhound Titans and Sicarius' hard-pressed 2nd Company. Though the Chaos war engines' vast firepower blasted many of their number to ash, the Dreadknights and Interceptors replied with a Vox-amplified banishment rite that sent the Warhound staggering back. With their daemonic spirits forcibly exorcised, the corrupted Titans fell silent, reduced in moments to inert hulks of worthless metal. Back in Angelus Prime, Marneus Calgar's Honour Guard had just finished hacking apart the last of the Renegades to have made it this far. As he strode back into the Sanctum of Guilliman, Calgar nodded grimly at the Vox reports spilling in from across the city. The Grey Knights had arrived, and at the crucial moment. They were even now banishing swathes of An'ggrath's daemonic tide, winning the Ultramarines the chance to begin systematically eradicating their foes. Vox-reports suggested the Traitors' lines were collapsing. Chaos Cultists fled in panic as their living idols were banished, leaving their suddenly outnumbered masters to face the Ultramarines' retribution. Meanwhile, the Imperial Titans were gaining the upper hand. Thanks to the Grey Knights' costly intervention, the enemy's engines were now hugely outnumbered. The Ultramarines would know victory, thought Calgar, turning to go down and join the fight in person. The Chapter Master had only a split second to register the huge, dark shadow hurtling towards the sanctum, before a massive impact threw him from his feet. For the Primarch Smashing his way through the columns that held up the sanctum's roof, An'ggrath the Unbound lunged for Marneus Calgar. The Greater Daemon's army was disintegrating. The battle was lost. However, the Bloodthirster had one last chance to claim a truly worthy skull for Khorne, and now he would take it. Rising, Calgar narrowly evaded the Bloodthirster's first axe-swing, then sidestepped the second. But he was not swift enough to avoid the barbed tip of An'ggrath's lash. It struck the Chapter Master in the chest, hurling him across the sanctuary to land with a crash at the feet of the Primarch's statue. Roaring war cries, Calgar's Honour Guard charged into the chamber. A single swing of An'ggrath's axe clove three of them apart, while the daemon's lash snatched the fourth around the waist and hurled him from the spire. The massive Bloodthirster laughed contemptuously, though the warriors' sacrifice had given their lord the moment he needed to regain his feet. Face twisted in a vengeful grimace, the Chapter Master charged across the sanctum, blasting An'ggrath with a storm of explosive bolts as he went. The Ultramarine avoided a bisecting swing from his foe's massive axe, still blasting An'ggrath's face and torso with bolts even as the two hacked and punched at each other. Calgar weathered a glancing blow to the head that shattered his jaw in a burst of agony. In return, he smashed one gauntlet straight into his foe's knee. An'ggrath crashed, his beating wings dislodging rubble that slammed down around the combatants. Dropping his whip, the Bloodthirster wrapped one huge claw around Calgar's waist. Enraged by the blows he had been dealt, An'ggrath lunged forwards, his maw yawning wide to bite Calgar's head from his body. Seeing his chance -- and feeling the eyes of Guilliman upon him -- Calgar swun his gauntlets out wide then slammed them together with catastrophic force. Warp-spawned bone shattered and boiling gore sprayed as An'ggrath's skull was instantly crushed. The daemon's headless body convulsed, before crashing to the floor where it dissolved into ash and ember. Released, Calgar fell to his knees. His ribs were broken, his skull cracked, and he had earned the eternal enmity of a mighty daemonic foe, yet Calgar lived. The Chapter Master was still there, offering pained thanks to his Primarch, when Captain Agemman found him some solar hours later. Amidst a haze of pain and the ministrations of several Apothecaries, Calgar heard Agemman's report. The battle was over; the Daemonkin were either fled or slain, and the Space Hulk Malefica had been blown apart. The slaughter had been great, but Calgar knew it could have been so much greater. Depsite near-impossible odds, the Ultramarines stood victorious once more. Sources * Blood Oath: The Battle for Angelus Prime (7th Edition), pp. 4-12, 14-15 Category:S Category:History Category:Imperial Campaigns Category:Space Marines Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:Imperial History Category:Ultramarines Category:Campaigns Category:Chaos Campaigns